Uganda's Rebels Declare a Cease-Fire

Rebels fighting a 16-year war in northern Uganda have called a cease-fire and want to meet President Yoweri Museveni, a religious leader in contact with the rebels said Monday.

Macbeth Ochola, retired Anglican bishop of Gulu, said representatives of the Lord's Resistance Army met with him and other Christian leaders Saturday and said they would soon let them know where they would agree to meet with a government delegation.

"They said they had declared a cease-fire and would like to meet the president. The government has already confirmed its commitment to peace and has received the communication from the LRA," Ochola said.

The rebel statement was broadcast Sunday on Mega FM radio in Gulu, 260 miles north of Kampala.

On Monday, the government-owned New Vision newspaper said Museveni's brother, Lt. Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho, who was in Gulu on what it described as a "peace mission," welcomed the LRA statement.

"We have high hopes that we shall together achieve a meaningful cease-fire which shall be formalized in our first face-to-face meeting soon as suggested by you (rebel leader Joseph Kony)," he told the newspaper.

In late January, the LRA told the group of Christian leaders headed by John Baptist Odama, Catholic Archbishop of Gulu, that they wanted the international community to be involved in any peace talks to end their 16-year war with Museveni's government.

At the time, Odama said he couldn't provide more details, but it is believed the Rome-based Sant'Egidio Catholic lay community that brokered peace between Renamo rebels and the Mozambican government a decade ago, may have been approached.

Last year, Museveni, who came to power in 1986 after a five-year rebellion, bowed to pressure from opposition politicians and church leaders to establish a dialogue with the LRA. But he conditioned government participation on the rebels' agreement to a cease-fire and to talks at a government-chosen site.

Last March, with the agreement of Sudan, Uganda launched "Operation Iron Fist" against rebel bases in neighboring southern Sudan, driving them into northern Uganda where heavy fighting flared in what was supposed to be a month-long operation to crush the rebels.

The rebels immediately set their own terms for talks, demanding that government forces stop attacking their positions. The rebellion that has engulfed the northern half of the East African nation has left thousands dead and driven nearly a million people from their homes, according to international charities in the region.